HOUSING TO THE RESCUE: RESPONDING TO ECONOMIC RESTRUCTURING IN SALE Submitted by Jason Pullman BA (Urban Studies) November 2010 A thesis submitted in total fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Social Science School of Global Studies, Social Science and Planning Faculty of Design and Social Context RMIT University 360 Swanston Street Melbourne 3000 ii Statement of authorship I certify that: a) except where due acknowledgement has been made, the work is that of the candidate alone; b) the work has not been submitted previously, in whole or in part, to qualify for any other academic award; c) the content of the thesis is the result of work which has been carried out since the official commencement date of the approved research program; d) any editorial work, paid or unpaid, carried out by a third party is acknowledged; e) ethics procedures and guidelines have been followed. Signed Jason Pullman Date 19 /11/2010 iii Acknowledgements I acknowledge Professor Tony Dalton, who has taken on most of the supervisory responsibility for this thesis. Professor Dalton has provided advice and counsel from a distance and has always been willing to immediately resume supervision even after my leave of absence during the candidature. Erin Marslen has assisted with some of the illustrations in the thesis and Sandra Rech from Wellington Shire Council has provided some of the base cadastral data for the illustrations. Thanks are also due to Peter Synan and Wellington Shire Council, who have assisted with access to historical documents. Finally I thank my wife Jodie and my children Annika and Amalie for their patience and support over many years while I have been locked away in the dungeon preparing this thesis. iv Contents Figures, tables and illustrations vii Glossary of abbreviations ix Abstract xiv Chapter 1 Introduction 1 1.1 Research questions 8 1.2 Methodology 9 1.3 Methods 11 1.4 Plan of the thesis 15 Chapter 2 Economic development and housing in Sale 18 2.1 Introduction 18 2.2 Old style regionalism 1940s–1970s 21 2.3 New localism 1980s–1990s 32 2.4 Multifaceted regionalism 2000–current 39 2.5 Economic development and housing markets in non-metropolitan 54 Australia 2.6 Conclusion 59 Chapter 3 Planning processes used to plan Sale 62 3.1 Introduction 62 3.2 The planning system used to plan Victorian regional cities 63 3.3 Conclusion 80 v Chapter 4 Key actors involved in planning for new housing in Sale 82 4.1 Introduction 82 4.2 The key actors participating in rezoning residential land in Sale 83 4.3 The key actors' response to the rezoning proposal 85 4.4 Conclusion 97 Chapter 5 Conclusion 99 Bibliography 103 Appendix 1: Interviews conducted 115 Appendix 2: Selected statistical analysis 117 Appendix 3: Glossary of abbreviation and terms 128 vi Figures, tables and illustrations Figures Figure 1.1 Estimated (1981–2006) and projected (2011–2031) population for 3 Sale Figure 1.2 Occupied private dwellings (1981–2006) for Sale 4 Figure 1.3 Dwelling building approvals (1980–2008) for Sale 5 Tables Table 2.1 Australian regional governance arrangements 1944–2010 20 Table 2.2 Old style regionalism and Sale's development 23 Table 2.3 New localism and Sale's development 34 Table 2.4 Multifaceted regionalism and Sale's development 41 Table 2.5 Sale housing policy documents 1996–2009 46 Table 2.6 Sale economic development projects 2000–2009 48 Table 2.7 Advantaged and disadvantaged Australian regional centres 2001 56 Table 2.8 Non metropolitan Australian centres with low growth housing 58 markets 2001 Table 3.1 Regional Victorian and Sale land use planning 1944–2010 63 Table 4.1 Key actors participating in rezoning residential land in Sale 85 Illustrations Illustration 1.1 Sale location map 2 Illustration 1.2 Thesis methodology 8 Illustration 2.1 Sale in 1952 24 Illustration 2.2 Former 1954 RAAF housing precinct 25 Illustration 2.3 Former HCV dwelling development 27 Illustration 2.4 Former HCV flats 28 Illustration 2.5 Former ESSO three and four-storey office complex 29 Illustration 2.6 Former ESSO subdivisions 31 Illustration 2.7 Sale environs locality map 32 Illustration 2.8 Sale in 1990 35 Illustration 2.9 Former LRC jurisdictional boundary 37 Illustration 2.10 Sale in 2006 42 vii Illustration 2.11 Spatial distribution of regional economic development policy (i) 51 Illustration 2.12 Spatial distribution of regional economic development policy (ii) 52 Illustration 2.13 Spatial distribution of regional economic development policy (ii) 53 Illustration 2.14 The universe of Australian regional cities and towns 55 Illustration 2.15 Non-metropolitan housing markets 57 Illustration 3.1 IDO 1954 65 Illustration 3.2 Residential density zones 1972 67 Illustration 3.3 Sale Planning Scheme 1975 68 Illustration 3.4 Sale Planning Scheme 1988 70 Illustration 3.5 Sale post-amalgamation strategy plan 1996 72 Illustration 3.6 The VPP 73 Illustration 3.7 Sale strategy plan 2001 75 Illustration 3.8 Vacant land supply 2001 79 Illustration 4.1 Sale's urban planning and housing system 84 viii Glossary of abbreviations C12 C12 Planning Scheme Amendment DHA Defence Housing Authority DoD Department of Defence DPCD Department of Planning and Community Development DSE Department of Sustainability and Environment (Planning) ESSO Eastern States Standard Oil (ExxonMobil) IDO Interim Development Order LPP Local Planning Policy LPPF Local Planning Policy Framework LRC Latrobe Regional Commission MSS Municipal Strategic Statement NIMBY Not in my backyard PEA 1987 Planning and Environment Act 1987 RAAF Royal Australian Air Force SRW Southern Rural Water SPP State Planning Policy SPPF State Planning Policy Framework T&CPB Town and Country Planning Board WPS Wellington Planning Scheme WSC Wellington Shire Council VCAT Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal WWII World War II VPP Victoria Planning Provisions ix Abstract The population and new dwelling constructions in the Victorian regional city of Sale has declined since the 1980s and Sale has faced great difficulties over the last fifteen years in creating additional employment opportunities. In 2001 Wellington Shire Council prepared the Sale & Environs District Report, a local housing land supply strategy that found that there was an undersupply of land zoned for housing purposes in Sale. The housing strategy's recommendations included a planning scheme amendment proposal to rezone additional land for housing on the fringes of Sale. Based on very little evidence, the Sale council responded to the economic restructuring and reduced supply of jobs by arguing that more land was required for housing development to stimulate economic growth. The planning scheme amendment proposal to increase the ready supply of residential land was placed on public exhibition during 2002. In 2003 the Minister for Planning refused to permit the council to rezone the land. This is the background for the principal research question, which asks, "Why did the key urban land use planning proposal for an increase in available residential land come to be seen as an appropriate response to a decline in Sale's economic growth in the context of evidence that economic development drives housing demand and not the ready supply of residential land?”. This thesis addresses this question by exploring how Sale's local experience with economic development and housing connects to the broader relationship between economic development and housing provision in Australian regional cities. This thesis analyses the regional economic development and housing provision literature through an historical analysis of Sale's complex economic development and housing relationship since World War II. By examining this relationship it is argued that Sale’s stagnant economic climate has resulted in fewer large-scale economic development projects being developed since the mid-1990s. This supports the conclusion that the promotion of housing supply by the Sale council since the 1990s was the wrong way to respond to economic restructuring and reduced supply of jobs. A detailed examination of the Sale & Environs District Report 2001 and its implementation reveals that there was little or no focus amongst most of the actor groups on the broader economic development issues and where Sale's housing market fitted in. The lack of focus and understanding by the actor groups raises important broader implications for public policy makers who hope to use a housing-led response to address economic restructuring and reduced supply of jobs in cities and towns like Sale. x xi Chapter 1 Introduction Under Section 3C(1) of the Local Government Act 1989 the primary objective of local government in Victoria is to "endeavour to achieve the best outcomes for the local community having regard to the long term and cumulative effects of decisions" (VSG 1989). To meet this objective, local government is often required to use the planning rules set out in the urban planning system. In achieving long term housing outcomes, local government often employs strategic land use planning, which can take the form of local housing strategies and planning scheme amendments to rezone land for housing. In 2001 Wellington Shire Council prepared the Sale & Environs District Report, a local housing strategy that found there was an undersupply of land zoned for housing purposes. The district report was essentially a housing study that examined housing demand and residential land supply in Sale. The housing study recommended new planning rules such as a planning scheme amendment proposal to rezone 56 hectares of farm land for housing on the fringes of Sale. Sale consists of 13 092 people (DPCD 2008) and is currently the main employment, education and commercial centre of Wellington Shire and the central/east Gippsland region of Victoria. Sale is located 215 kilometres east of Melbourne (see Illustration 1.1).